Fires have scorched 350,000 hectares (more than 1,350 square miles) of the state

Large swaths of southern New South Wales in Australia were threatened Wednesday by raging flames, the severity of which has surprised even veteran firefighters.

"It's about the worst I've ever experienced in just-on 60 years of firefighting," said Capt. Jim Simpson with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Outside the town of Yass, flames swept rapidly across more than 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of farmland and up to the fence around Catherine Frith's house, where its march was halted.

"The firefighters were amazing," she said. "There must have been about 60 trucks come in."

Her sheep did not fare as well. "We know about 500 sheep have died -- or are being shot at the moment," she said.

Thanks to firefighters like Simpson, the town of Tarcutta in southwestern New South Wales escaped by a whisker the fate suffered by Frith's sheep. A blackened line stops just outside the town of 200 residents.

Fires threaten parts of Australia 20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – The Wambelong Fire burns near the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia, on Monday, January 14.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – The Redbank North Fire burns close to the Newell Highway near Coonabarabran on Monday.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A water-bombing helicopter returns from a fire area to the town of Yass, in the southern part of New South Wales state, on Friday, January 11.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A scrub fire burns up a hillside south of Bookham near Yass on Friday.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Fire leaves a tree and paddock blackened near Bookham on Thursday, January 10.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Firefighters attack a fire from the ground on Wednesday, January 9, in Bungendore, Australia. A "catastrophic warning" was lifted, but the fire risk was still considered "severe" in the northeastern part of New South Wales. The threat has eased as temperatures have fallen in the southern Australian state, but authorities warn the danger isn't over yet.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Burned sheep lie in a paddock near Bookham in New South Wales on Wednesday. An estimated 10,000 sheep have died in the New South Wales bushfires.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A firefighter douses trees from the Deans Gap fire near Nowra on New South Wales' southern coast on January 9.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Trees smolder near Nowra on January 9.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A chopper carries out water-bombing operations on a fire at Sandhills in Bungendore on January 9.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Smoke rises from a wildfire in Nimmitabel, a town in New South Wales, on Tuesday, January 8.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A firefighter battles the flames of the Dean's Gully fire at a property near the town of Wandandian in New South Wales, on January 8.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – A fire danger rating sign set to catastrophic stands near fire trucks as smoke billows into the sky on the outskirts of Wandandian on January 8. On Tuesday afternoon, more than 130 fires were burning throughout NSW, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia20 photos

Fires threaten parts of Australia – Firefighters continue to hose around a tree that survived a fire in Oura in New South Wales on Tuesday.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia – Burned out cars lie abandoned at the jetty on the Tasman Peninsula in Boomer Bay, Tasmania, on Tuesday.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia – Smoke is seen billowing over the closed Hume Highway near Tarcutta in New South Wales on Tuesday.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia – A kangaroo hops through a field burned by recent fires in Sunbury north of Melbourne on January 8.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard inspects the destroyed remains of the Dunalley school in southeast Tasmania, Australia, on Monday, January 7.

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Fires threaten parts of Australia – Buildings lie in ruins on Saturday, January 5, from bush fires that hit Dunalley, a town on the Australian island state of Tasmania.

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Despite such victories, New South Wales's premier, Barry O'Farrell, told reporters on Wednesday that danger remains. "There are in the order of 130, 140 fires across the state and 30 uncontained," he said.

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There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries related to the fires, which have blackened 350,000 hectares (more than 1,350 square miles) of the state. One firefighter received slight injuries to his hands and face, firefighter Matt Inwood told CNN Wednesday. "The next step in all this is for us to take stock of the devastation and destruction," Inwood said.

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Australia PM: We stand by Tasmania

The weather has been brutal across Australia in recent days. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said a recent heat wave had set temperature records.

The average maximum daily temperature of 40.33 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded on Monday was the highest since December 1972. And during the last four months of 2012, average maximum daily temperatures were the highest on record since records began in 1910, the bureau said.

Temperatures reached a peak of 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sydney on Tuesday. The intense heat, combined with strong winds, raised fears that even the smallest spark could be fanned into a blaze.

Lower temperatures on Wednesday prompted authorities to rescind a "catastrophic warning," but the risk was still deemed "severe" in the northeast section of New South Wales. Higher temperatures are forecast for the weekend.

The extreme heat combined with the late onset of the Australian monsoon have turned large areas of bush and scrub land across the state into a tinderbox.

In the first days of the year, the heat contributed to the spread of fires across Tasmania, where police have charged a 31-year-old man with causing one of the worst of the fires by not extinguishing a campfire before leaving the site.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard went on television to warn of the dangers and urged people to watch news reports and judge whether they should get out of the path of any flames.

"Thankfully there has been no loss of life or large scale loss of houses; however the bushfires have had a devastating effect on livestock and farmland," she said. She said assistance would be available to help residents recover in 37 areas of New South Wales.

The fires were reminiscent of what happened on February 7, 2009, also known as "Black Saturday." That's when bushfires across the state of Victoria left 173 people dead and 500 injured and destroyed thousands of homes.